Ford: Automaker not scrapping plans to build Mexico factories

The US carmaker said a planned factory in the central state of Guanajuato will build engines and transmissions.

Ford is sticking with its plan to build two new factories in Mexico, despite an announcement last month that it had scrapped plans for a plant in the central state of San Luis Potosi.

The US carmaker said a planned factory in the central state of Guanajuato will build engines and transmissions, while another in the northern city of Chihuahua will make car parts for use by Ford factories in the United States, South America and Asia.

The two facilities will cost about $2.5 billion and employ some 3,800 people, said Gabriel Lopez, president and CEO of Ford Mexico.

Ford without warning last month canceled plans to build a $1.6 billion project in San Luis Potosi.

It is one of several American companies coming under pressure from US President Donald Trump, who has offered inducements to keep some US manufacturers in the United States, and threatened others with punishing tariffs if they go.

Ford, which has been operating in Mexico for about 90 years, currently employs around 9,000 workers in Mexico, according to Lopez.